Kristin Varela, Cars.com – The Allstate Bloghttps://blog.allstate.com
Expert tips and fun facts on protecting your car, home, motorcycle or RV from Allstate Auto InsuranceThu, 17 Aug 2017 21:45:43 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.8.166977242School Carpool Lanes Can Be a Danger Zonehttps://blog.allstate.com/school-carpool-lanes-can-be-a-danger-zone/
https://blog.allstate.com/school-carpool-lanes-can-be-a-danger-zone/#commentsTue, 24 Apr 2012 13:07:30 +0000http://community.allstate.com/community/allstate_blog/blog/2012/04/24/school-carpool-lanes-are-a-danger-zoneDoing the math, I’m surprised by how many times I’ve driven through my kids’ school carpool lane: two to three times per day for the past nine years. And, in that time, the amount of disregard that I’ve seen parents have for the safety of their child passengers while under the perceived safety net of […]

Doing the math, I’m surprised by how many times I’ve driven through my kids’ school carpool lane: two to three times per day for the past nine years. And, in that time, the amount of disregard that I’ve seen parents have for the safety of their child passengers while under the perceived safety net of the school zone is shocking.

I regularly see parents allowing their kids to unbuckle from their child-safety seats, hang their bodies out of the car window and wave to their friends or stand out of the sunroof to greet their buddies.

I’ve even seen one child sitting on mom’s lap “helping” her steer through the school’s parking lot. Can you imagine what would happen if that mom were rear-ended, causing the airbag to deploy while her daughter was on her lap?

I would hope that common sense tells most of us that if the car is moving — even at a stop-and-go rate — there’s a danger of getting into a collision. All the safety rules that we follow while going 70 mph down the highway should also apply to the school zone or carpool lane.

Unfortunately, that common sense is escaping many of us. A distracted driving study by SafeKids USA observed drivers in 20 active school zones across 15 states, including my own state of Colorado.

School zones with a lowered speed limit showed a higher percentage of distracted drivers compared with school zones without a lowered speed limit.

The study found that one in six drivers was distracted, and by a variety of activities:

Using cell phones and electronics

Eating, drinking and smoking

Reaching or looking behind

Grooming

Reading

In the study, school zones with a lowered speed limit showed a higher percentage of distracted drivers compared with school zones without a lowered speed limit. This supports my experience: the idea that some parents think pulling through the carpool lane slowly is a license to loosen up usually sharp judgment.

This school zone safety study didn’t account for other distraction factors, such as our emotional and mental state (flustered after your hubby just called to tell you he’s running late and will miss the science fair this year … again?) or cognitive distractions, such as listening to the radio, or trying to ignore an irrational toddler in the backseat.

According to an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study in 1995, 18 percent of crashes in urban areas occurred when a vehicle that was stopped, or in the process of stopping, was struck from the rear. Unfortunately, school zones and carpool lanes are not immune to this statistic.

For parents to think their kids are invincible while pulling through carpool lane — and slacking off on all the normal safety rules we’d implement in the car any other time — is a potentially deadly oversight.

]]>https://blog.allstate.com/school-carpool-lanes-can-be-a-danger-zone/feed/284Study Finds 1 in 5 Teens Have Driven Highhttps://blog.allstate.com/study-finds-1-in-5-teens-have-driven-high/
https://blog.allstate.com/study-finds-1-in-5-teens-have-driven-high/#commentsMon, 16 Apr 2012 13:09:44 +0000http://community.allstate.com/community/allstate_blog/blog/2012/04/16/a-wake-up-call-1-in-5-teens-have-driven-highJust when I think I have this whole parenting thing figured out, the game changes. With my oldest daughter preparing for middle school, I feel like I have a pretty firm grip on the perils of upper elementary school (limiting makeup to lip gloss only and teaching her how to be responsible with her first […]

Just when I think I have this whole parenting thing figured out, the game changes. With my oldest daughter preparing for middle school, I feel like I have a pretty firm grip on the perils of upper elementary school (limiting makeup to lip gloss only and teaching her how to be responsible with her first cell phone).

What I’m not prepared for yet is the reality that marijuana use is at an all-time high among eighth- through 12th-grade kids. Scarier yet, 19 percent of teens admit to having driven after smoking pot, according to a study conducted by SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions).

As parents, we seem to have done a fairly thorough job instilling the importance of not driving after drinking alcohol, but we’ve apparently been slacking on relaying the dangers of driving after smoking marijuana (the same study found that, of those who admitted to driving under the influence of pot, 36 percent said it presented no distraction).

So, what steps can we take as parents to help ensure our teens’ safety in cars as they experiment and sometimes stumble their way through adolescence?

Draft a driving contract

When your teen starts driving, put a safe driving contract into place. You can draft one from scratch yourself, or download a Parent-Teen Driving Contract template. Your teen can also go a step further and make a public promise. Along with the basics, like when and where your teen is allowed to drive, it should spell out the fact that your teen will never drive while under the influence of anything (or get into a car with someone else in that same state), or even when they’re too tired to think coherently.

Put a plan in place

Be sure to let your teen driver know that they can call you at any hour of the day or night for a safe ride home without consequences, and back your word by putting it on paper in the safe driving contract. If they’re not comfortable coming to you for this, you can list an alternate contact—a “cool” aunt, for example—who knows to deliver your teen home safely and discreetly.

Give your teen an easy out

To make it easy for your teen to refuse a ride from a pressuring peer who may be under the influence, implement a way out. For some, it could be something as simple as texting a code word to a parent, who then knows to put the parental kibosh on the night. For example, the code word could be “funnn,” spelled with 3 Ns: “hving gr8 funnn at Sophie’s.” Mom then knows to book it over to Sophie’s house (or around the corner from Sophie’s house) for a pickup.

What other plans have you and your family implemented to help keep your teens and their friends from succumbing to the temptation of driving under the influence? Share your ideas with other parents in the comments section below.

Kristin Varela is the senior family editor at Cars.com, a leading destination for online car shoppers.

]]>https://blog.allstate.com/study-finds-1-in-5-teens-have-driven-high/feed/391Connected Cars: Elegant Infotainment Centers and Accident Avoidance Systems [VIDEO]https://blog.allstate.com/connected-cars-elegant-infotainment-centers-and-accident-avoidance-systems/
https://blog.allstate.com/connected-cars-elegant-infotainment-centers-and-accident-avoidance-systems/#commentsWed, 07 Mar 2012 15:02:55 +0000http://community.allstate.com/community/allstate_blog/blog/2012/03/07/cars-that-tweet-social-nirvana-or-yet-another-distractionThe cars of the future have arrived. And they’re flush with the latest technologies that have many people likening these vehicles to “iPads on wheels.” It’s not just the elegant touch screens—17 inches in the case of the Tesla Model S. These “connected cars” stream Pandora, let drivers send Tweets and make Facebook posts. Some […]

]]>The cars of the future have arrived. And they’re flush with the latest technologies that have many people likening these vehicles to “iPads on wheels.”

It’s not just the elegant touch screens—17 inches in the case of the Tesla Model S. These “connected cars” stream Pandora, let drivers send Tweets and make Facebook posts. Some even help make dinner reservations and buy movie tickets (you still have to butter your own popcorn, though).

Although automakers tout the hands-free aspects of many of these systems, the devices are still giving rise to safety concerns with regard to distracted driving. Just this week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released guidelines encouraging car makers to limit the distraction risk of their technologies, including, in some instances, disabling the devices while the vehicle is in motion.

For more on the safety issues surrounding the “connected car,” have a look at this Cars.com interview:

Or, for a look at how technologies are actually working to warn drivers of potential crashes, check out this Cars.com video:

* * * * *

TRANSCRIPT (Video 1)

ANNOUNCER: Cars.com Auto Reviews.

KELSEY MAYS: Hi. I’m Kelsey Mays for Cars.com. In new cars these days, multimedia systems are proliferating. They’re spreading across a lot of cars as automakers replace traditional center controls with a large touch screen. Unfortunately, that’s also introducing some driver distraction issues. Here to talk about the ramifications, we’ve got safety expert Mark Woirol from Allstate. Mark, thanks for joining us today.

MARK WOIROL: Kelsey, thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.

KELSEY MAYS: So, let’s talk about these systems. I mean, what are they, kind of, what are some of the issues posed?

MARK WOIROL: You know, the systems in the market today have come so far in the last two to three years. You had systems that three years ago worked off a basis of an embedded module that connected to a satellite cellular connection to now the systems are built into where a blue tooth connection in a vehicle to an iPhone can run the systems on the car and the apps that are out there.

KELSEY MAYS: So, drivers and their passengers are more connected than ever these days with Facebook and other social medial and what have you. How do we convince them that while they are behind the wheel driving is the first priority?

MARK WOIROL: Great question. You know, what of the biggest things, and you hit it on the head, is that all the apps that are available to them—they have Google, they have Yelp, they have Pandora, all these apps—they still need to focus on driving the vehicle and watching on the road versus touching the screens that are out there.

KELSEY MAYS: But Mark, aren’t these systems safer than someone having one hand thumbing away on a smartphone and the other hand on the wheel?

MARK WOIROL: Absolutely, Kelsey. If we look at the systems three years ago, you had little knobs and buttons that they had to push, so they’re focusing more on what’s out there. In today’s system, while it’s touch screen, it makes it a lot easier from them. The screens are bigger. They’re typically about an eight-inch screen versus a four-inch screen, so the ability to actually get in to see what’s out there is good, but it gets back to they still need to be focusing on the road and what’s going on in front of them versus the apps.

KELSEY MAYS: So it sounds like we’ve come a long ways from where these screens were for five or even 10 years ago. What’s been the reaction from some of the regulators? I know that transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, has been talking about how he’s on this, kind of, crusade against distracted driving. What’s been the reaction there?

MARK WOIROL: Distracted driving comes in a lot of different forms. It can come in texting. It can come in talking on a cell phone. It can come in using an infotainment center. It can come in simply talking in a car such as, we’re doing right now. At the end of the day, it gets back to paying attention. If you look at current statistics that are out there, 25 percent of all reported collisions are a result of distracted driving. Out of that 25 percent, 80 percent are three seconds or less to impact. Three seconds not focusing on the road is a big deal. You know Allstate is a big proponent of teen education and no texting, so we’re a big proponent on these systems on what they can do, but also the fact that we need to pay attention to the road.

KELSEY MAYS: So automakers want to increase profitability of cars, and this is one way. How do we reconcile that with safety and consumers wanting to stay connected?

MARK WOIROL: I think when you look at what’s available out there on the systems, the government as well as the insurance industry know the researchers are keenly aware of what the systems can do, and there is a lot of dialogue going on in regards to how do you work through these systems to give the customer what they want, but also, in fact, have safety built into these systems. Some manufacturers do better than others in regards to what the systems can do. Functionality is actually taken out of some systems while the car is in motion, which again is a good thing, to where there’s not a distraction with the driver. We do have a long way to go, but I feel that based on where we’re at today, all parties are at least talking about it.

ANNOUNCER: For more car-related news, go to Cars.com or our blog, KickingTires.net.

* * * * *

TRANSCRIPT (Video 2)

ANNOUNCER: Cars.com Auto Reviews.

KELSEY MAYS: Hi. I’m Kelsey Mays from Cars.com. Modern automotive safety systems today go well beyond anti-lock brakes and electronic stability control. In fact, some cars are even able to warn you of a collision to come. We’ll talk about how those systems work and cover some of their implications with Mark Woirol an Automotive Safety Expert from Allstate. Mark, thanks for joining us today.

MARK WOIROL: Thanks Kelsey. I appreciate you having me on. I’m a big fan of what Cars.com does.

KELSEY MAYS: So tell me about these systems. How do they work? What do they do?

MARK WOIROL: Well, there’s a lot of different systems that are on the market. So when we look at safety systems in an automobile, you have crash avoidance systems. We have lane departure systems. We have advanced headlight systems. We have backup systems that are in place. We have mitigation systems. So, each one that are in vehicles are set up to do a specifically a different task to protect.

KELSEY MAYS: So, are these systems—we’ve seen a lot of them in luxury vehicles. Are some of them coming out in non-luxury vehicles, in the Chevys, the Toyotas, the Fords of the world?

MARK WOIROL: Yea, they are. Typically, the higher-end vehicles have always been the ones that, kind of, start the ball rolling with new systems. But, in today’s marketplace, you can take a Ford Focus as a prime example. They have a low speed crash avoidance system that’s built into the vehicle. They also have a system built into where the vehicle, such as Lexus a few years ago, it will park itself into parallel park.

KELSEY MAYS: Wow. So, do these systems actually steer you away from an impending collision or do they just—they warn you? Do they stop you? How does that all work?

MARK WOIROL: There is vast differences between most of the systems. I’ll give you two examples. So, when you look at front driver systems that are out there, you could have a low-speed system or a low-impact braking system, and you have a high-speed system. So, if I look at the Volvo system, which is called City Safe, it’s made to where a crash is under 20 miles an hour, through a laser and a camera mounted in front of the rear-view mirror, it will track a car in front of it and literally stop the vehicle from an impact. It’s built for the urban environment, whereas if you look at a high-speed system, and I’ll use BMW system as a prime example, it’s a four-phase system. Traveling at speed on a major highway, the system will warn you of an impending problem. Phase two it will actually pre-charge the brakes to potentially stop. Phase three gets into the situation to where, okay, as a driver you haven’t done anything, so it’s going to actually start to apply the brakes for about a second and a half to slow the vehicle down, and phase four the system literally understands crash is imminent, we are going to have an effect here, it will literally slow the car down, evasive breaking, to try to minimize the impact as well as reposition the vehicle and the people in the vehicle to help them from an injury standpoint.

KELSEY MAYS: So what are all the implications of this? I mean if your car is really trying to mitigate collisions, and you really idiot proof the car, well, aren’t we just all going to become more idiots behind the wheel?

MARK WOIROL: No. I think we all agree, Kelsey, that the driver still is the one that’s in control of the vehicle. At the end of the day, it’s about giving additional tools to them, so when they drive, to make it safer. Allstate Insurance Company is one of the first companies to get behind airbags and putting them into vehicles as far as stability control and our position is this is just another tool to help the driver be aware of the driving public.

KELSEY MAYS: So it sounds like you’d agree with the statement that the number-one safety feature in a car is really the driver?

MARK WOIROL: Absolutely.

ANNOUNCER: For more car-related news, go to Cars.com or our blog, KickingTires.net.

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Videos developed via a partnership between Allstate Insurance and Cars.com.

]]>https://blog.allstate.com/connected-cars-elegant-infotainment-centers-and-accident-avoidance-systems/feed/11192012 Family-Car Resolutionshttps://blog.allstate.com/2012-family-car-resolutions/
https://blog.allstate.com/2012-family-car-resolutions/#respondThu, 12 Jan 2012 16:06:25 +0000http://community.allstate.com/community/allstate_blog/blog/2012/01/12/2012-family-car-resolutionsDespite our best intentions as parents, sometimes we fall a little short. We harp on our kids to keep their rooms picked up, and we may even dock their allowance if they don’t—yet look at our own cars. They’re filthy. Disgusting. What if your pay was docked for not keeping your car clean? Our team […]

]]>Despite our best intentions as parents, sometimes we fall a little short. We harp on our kids to keep their rooms picked up, and we may even dock their allowance if they don’t—yet look at our own cars. They’re filthy. Disgusting. What if your pay was docked for not keeping your car clean?

Our team of Cars.com Family contributors has learned a lot this past year driving car after car with our combined gaggle of kids in the backseat, and we’re sharing our lessons with you. Here are our top family-car resolutions for 2012:

Clean out your crumbs: Every parent should own an in-car vacuum. Our cars get so messy on a daily basis with dirt, sand, snacks, you name it. The ability to quickly suck those puppies up would be indispensible. We also all need to invest in an in-car trash can of some sort. Are you starting to notice a theme here?

Believe the electric hype: Mom reviewer Jennifer Newman spent a good part of 2011 behind the wheel of the 2011 Nissan Leaf, which Cars.com purchased for a long-term test drive, and it’s one of her favorite cars. The power is instantaneous and zipping past gas stations without a care is a fantastic feeling. If you’re a two-car family, the Leaf should be on your must-try list.

Don’t slim down your BubbleBums: To solve a whole slew of family car problems, this year all of our reviewers will be buying more than one BubbleBum booster seat. The dreaded three-kids-in-boosters-across-one-backseat conundrum? Solved. Trying to lug booster seats through the airport while going on vacation? Solved. Worried about your kid’s booster becoming a dangerous projectile while she’s not in it? Solved. World peace? We’re still working on that one.

Safety first: Despite our best efforts to educate the world on the dangers of kids in and around cars, every year more than 50 kids are backed over in the U.S., according to KidsandCars.org. This year we resolve to get an aftermarket backup camera in our car, or if we’re buying a new car, we love the 360-degree cameras popping up on higher-end vehicles like the 2012 Infiniti QX.

Never drive tipsy; never drive drowsy: After a scarily eye-opening “MythBusters” episode last year that determined that driving drowsy is between three and 10 times more dangerous than driving tipsy (and a few late-night drives home from the airport in which we couldn’t actually remember driving home after the fact), we resolve to never drive drowsy. Instead, we’ll just stay an extra night in the hotel on our business trips. Room service, pajamas and catching up on tacky reality TV that’s entirely inappropriate for the young ones to see? That sounds much better than risking our lives driving home late while drowsy.

Ignore the children: We vow to occasionally ignore our children when driving. Distracted driving is a real problem, and people need to make sure they’re paying attention to the road. This sometimes means having to ask the kids to pipe down so we can concentrate on getting through a tangled intersection or busy parking lot.

Kristin Varela is the senior family editor at Cars.com. Opinions expressed within this post are solely those of the author.

]]>https://blog.allstate.com/2012-family-car-resolutions/feed/01543 Ways to Transport Your Holiday Foodshttps://blog.allstate.com/3-ways-to-transport-your-holiday-foods/
https://blog.allstate.com/3-ways-to-transport-your-holiday-foods/#commentsWed, 30 Nov 2011 23:25:25 +0000http://community.allstate.com/community/allstate_blog/blog/2011/11/30/3-ways-to-transport-your-holiday-foods-safelyWe’ve all been tasked with the thankless job of securing a casserole dish overflowing with piping-hot buttery potatoes on our laps, over the forest and through the woods to grandmother’s house, all while speeding down the highway at 70 mph. And how about getting all those leftovers home after your holiday dinner? While Auntie May’s […]

]]>We’ve all been tasked with the thankless job of securing a casserole dish overflowing with piping-hot buttery potatoes on our laps, over the forest and through the woods to grandmother’s house, all while speeding down the highway at 70 mph.

And how about getting all those leftovers home after your holiday dinner? While Auntie May’s pumpkin pie may seem perfectly pleasant perched atop a lace doily on the dining room table, it can become a dangerous projectile if not secured properly in the car.

Here are a few of my top tips for transporting all of your holiday faves in the car:

Laundry Basket and Bungee Cords: No matter what type of dish you’re traveling with this year, the easiest way to secure it is by using an ordinary laundry basket. Line the bottom of the basket with an old beach towel, place your dish inside, then crisscross bungee cords through the holes of the basket and over the top of your dish to secure it. The entire basket can then be secured in the trunk or cargo space of your car using a few more bungee cords attached to the metal tie-down anchor points. If you happen to have a leak, the towels will soak up any mess. If you don’t have a leak, your kids can roll up the towels after dinner and use them on the way home as pillows to sleep off that tryptophan-induced fog.

Pie Tins, Tinfoil, Baking Sheet: Tinfoil is your best friend while transporting pies. Take an extra metal pie tin, flip it upside down, and use it to tent the pie itself. You can then seal the edges of the two pie tins together with a strip of tinfoil. Place the pie or pies on a baking sheet with a lip and use more tinfoil around the baking sheet’s edges to secure the pies. Store the baking sheet in your trunk with a grippy drawer liner underneath to help keep it from sliding around, or stash it in the bottom of the aforementioned laundry basket.

Going High Tech: If you’re serious about your spuds, you can up the ante with some high-tech food transportation techniques. A travel casserole dish is a great option for transporting piping-hot dishes. I purchased one from Target recently for just $14. It comes with the Pyrex® casserole dish, a secure rubber lid, a microwaveable gel pouch to help keep the goodies hot on the road, and a thermal insulated carrying case.

If you’re traveling with food in the car, slow cookers with locking lids are the only way to go and will help keep any leaks or spills from intruding on your fabric upholstery. I purchased one recently from Amazon for just over $30.

If you’re really serious about keeping your sweet potatoes at the perfect temperature while on the road, a portable 12-volt heater/cooler is the way to go. These puppies plug into the 12-volt outlet right in your car, can be switched to heat rather than cool, and keep your marshmallow-laced potato puree inside at a consistent 140 degrees.

]]>https://blog.allstate.com/3-ways-to-transport-your-holiday-foods/feed/1184What to Look for in a Three-Row SUVhttps://blog.allstate.com/what-to-look-for-in-a-three-row-suv/
https://blog.allstate.com/what-to-look-for-in-a-three-row-suv/#respondThu, 03 Nov 2011 15:00:41 +0000http://community.allstate.com/community/allstate_blog/blog/2011/11/03/what-to-look-for-in-a-three-row-suvMany families are looking for larger cars that can easily haul a gaggle of kids, but they don’t want to get behind the wheel of a minivan. Enter the three-row SUV. When shopping for a three-row SUV, there are six must-have features that every family will want: Easy access to the third row. It should […]

]]>Many families are looking for larger cars that can easily haul a gaggle of kids, but they don’t want to get behind the wheel of a minivan. Enter the three-row SUV. When shopping for a three-row SUV, there are six must-have features that every family will want:

Easy access to the third row. It should be easy for kids to get into the third row. Nothing’s worse than whiny kids fighting over who doesn’t have to sit back there. In the Toyota Highlander, the second row’s middle seat can be stowed away, creating a pathway to the third row. The second-row seats in the Mazda CX-9 slide so far forward that they can touch the back of the first-row seats. This creates enough room for a child to get to the third row, and it’s especially useful if you have child-safety seats installed in the second row.

Air vents for the third row. Kids hate having to wait for fresh air to arrive, and parents hate having to clean up after a child suffering from stuffy carsickness. In the Kia Sorento, the third row’s air vents can be controlled by a child sitting in the third row.

Backup camera. With vehicles this big, backup cameras are a must. They are a great way to make sure little ones are not hanging around the rear of the car. In addition, they’ll keep you from hitting hard-to-see posts and bumpers. The Dodge Durango has a standard backup camera that’s viewed on a large screen, making it easy to see just what’s behind the SUV.

Easy-to-use seat belt buckles. It may seem like a little thing to some, but seat buckles that sit on stable bases, like those in the Chevy Traverse, will make you and your kids happier because kids of booster seat age and older can buckle up independently. In contrast, the Mazda CX-9’s buckles have flimsy bases that can be difficult for kids with limited dexterity to use. This means mom or dad has to help the child buckle up, and if that kid is in the third row, it could require acrobatics. Or a live-in chiropractor.

Power liftgate. This feature makes life easier and safer for multitasking parents. A simple push of the button on the CX-9’s key fob opens the liftgate, allowing mom or dad to keep a firm grip on the kids’ hands rather than fumbling with opening the liftgate.

All the extras. When you’re shopping for a three-row SUV, make sure to consider which features are particularly important to you and your family. Maybe you live in a cold climate and want to warm up the car before you take the kids to school. The Durango features remote start, allowing the car to be warmed—or cooled—to a set temperature before you get in. If you can’t stand hot car seats in the summer, the Kia Sorento has standard cooled front seats. Planning on hauling your family’s camper? The Ford Explorer’s standard trailer-sway control will make that a lot easier. If you hate digging through your bag for your car keys, you’ll appreciate the keyless start in the Durango, Sorento and CX-9.

Click here for more information about three-row SUVs and to find out find out which three-row SUV won the $37,000 SUV Shootout at Cars.com.

]]>https://blog.allstate.com/what-to-look-for-in-a-three-row-suv/feed/02043 Ways Parents Can Reduce Distracted Drivinghttps://blog.allstate.com/3-ways-parents-can-reduce-distracted-driving/
https://blog.allstate.com/3-ways-parents-can-reduce-distracted-driving/#commentsTue, 11 Oct 2011 19:15:42 +0000http://community.allstate.com/community/allstate_blog/blog/2011/10/11/parents-are-distracted-driversParents Can Be Distracted Drivers, Too We’ve all heard about the dangers of texting and driving, and although many of us think that teens are the most distracted drivers among us, think again. Think way back to this morning, when you were driving to school, taking that early morning work call, sneaking a peek on […]

We’ve all heard about the dangers of texting and driving, and although many of us think that teens are the most distracted drivers among us, think again. Think way back to this morning, when you were driving to school, taking that early morning work call, sneaking a peek on your cell phone in the cupholder at that text that just came in, searching for the pencil that little Suzie dropped under the seat, sipping on your coffee, listening to the morning news on the radio, harping at your son for forgetting his lunchbox…all while driving. Scary stuff!

Despite raising awareness of the dangers of distracted driving—even by high-profile personalities such as Oprah—we are still not getting the message. Texting and driving tops the list, but dialing phone numbers, eating, reading and more are also to blame. In 2008, nearly 6,000 people were killed in completely avoidable accidents that involved a distracted driver, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. We’ve become even more distracted in the few years since.

Take some extra time to figure out what changes you and your family can make to help save a life. Try these tips:

Abstinence

The easiest thing we can do is never text or dial while driving and model this behavior to our youngsters (monkey see, monkey do). If you have teens who are already text-reliant, look into technology to help avoid temptation. Avoid allowing your youngsters to distract you while driving by starting early to teach them that Mommy can’t help (or look or reach) right now because she needs to keep her eyes safely on the road.

Technology as a solution

A new app on Android phones (coming soon to iPhone, BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7 devices) called Otter allows parents to log in remotely to their teen’s cell phone and turn on the app’s GPS mode to “silence all primary text notifications [while the teen is in a moving car] and auto-reply with an anti-texting and driving message,” the developer says. Otter was developed by a father whose 3-year-old daughter was nearly run down by a texting driver. According to Otter, a texting driver is 2,300 percent more likely to be involved in a serious crash than a non-texting driver.

Designated texter

If you or your teen is in a car with a child, sibling or friends, choose a designated texter—someone in the car whose job is to reply to any time-sensitive or social texts so the driver can stay focused on the road. Even my 7-year-old loves being honored as the designated texter, letting Daddy know we’re stopping at the grocery store before heading home.

Talk to your family tonight at the dinner table about other ideas that you can implement to be a part of the solution to dangerous distracted driving, rather than the problem.

Guest blogger Kristin Varela is the Chief Mom at MotherProof.com, a website dedicated to providing women and mothers in particular with useful and entertaining new-car reviews that are straightforward and casual, written by the Mother Proof mom-reviewers from one woman to another.